Scott Calvin has been Santa Claus for the past eight years, and his elves consider him the best ever. But Santa's world is turned upside down when his son gets on the naughty list, and if Scott doesn't marry soon, he'll stop being Santa forever.

When ex-LAPD officer Jeff Talley became chief of police in a sleepy town, he thought he'd left behind the traumas of his career as a big city hostage negotiator. But when a random crime escalates into a deadly standoff, Talley finds himself thrust into a situation far more volatile and terrifying than anything he could ever imagine.